Nothing much

In my last post I shared a photo of the Tea Leaves cardigan I was knitting. The color of the yarn in the photo was very misleading, so I thought I'd post a photo today closer to the actual color. It's called "Tidepool Heather," which isn't much of a help in identifying a color, but it's more of the pale slate green than a rich turquoise. My camera sometimes plays tricks with me when I try to capture yarn colors accurately.

The cardigan is done, as of this morning, and I'm ecstatic. I'm ecstatic that it's done, I mean, because the knitting got to be a bit of a drag once I got down to the underarm-to-bottom-of-hem area. Then when I started the sleeves, I had one almost done when I faced the fact that I had to go up one needle size if I wanted the gauge of the sleeve to be the same as the gauge of the body. Frustrating.

It's quietly blocking now, so we'll see how much I like it once I try it on. I do wish I'd knit it one size smaller, but maybe I can get some wear out of it anyway.

 My grandniece requested "a dress and some shorts and maybe a tunic" for the little lamb I knit her for Christmas, so I have her "order" completed. I added an extra pair of shorts and a little hat, too. I think Violet will be pleased to see these new fashions for her lamb.

I was alerted this past Tuesday that Trader Joe's in Portland had a shipment of new orchids in, tall and generously blooming orchids at that. I thought about them the rest of the week and knew I wouldn't be able to rest until I had one of my very own. Ken and I drove to Trader Joe's on Friday, and I walked out of the store with this in my arms.

Now to keep it alive and blooming....

I do have two phalanopsis orchids sending up flower spikes at the moment, so they'll be in bloom, too, before long. I always look forward to sending my orchids (I have about 15 plants in all) to "summer camp," which is a rack on our front porch, in late spring. They love spending time out there from late May to mid-September and reward me with occasional blossoms as a result.

I took the photo in my header one cold morning last week. It was 4° when I left our house, wobbled between 4° and 6° during my drive to North Conway, and held a steady 6° while I shopped there. The summit of Mt. Washington was clearly visible on this cold, crisp day, and I had my camera with me....